Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does Galatians Chapter 2 mean?

Galatians 2 begins with a crucial meeting between Paul and the other apostles in Jerusalem. It ends with a magnificent description of being justified before God through faith in Christ. The prior chapter ended as Paul was explaining his conversion and subsequent study, leading him to begin preaching the same gospel he had once persecuted.

Eventually, Paul traveled to Jerusalem with Barnabas, a Jewish Christian, and Titus, a Gentile Christian. They had likely been sent from the believers in Antioch with relief for those suffering from a great famine. Paul took advantage of the occasion, though, to have a private meeting with the influential leaders of the Christian movement in Jerusalem, including the other apostles like Peter and John (Galatians 2:1–2).

To these other apostles, Paul presents the message about Jesus which he has been preaching to Gentiles in other parts of the world. He confirms it to be the same message they are preaching: that one cannot be saved by keeping the law. Salvation is found only through faith in Christ and his substitution for us in dying for our sin on the cross. The question for Gentile believers is whether they must start following the law after trusting in Christ. All of the apostles agree: this is not needed, and they say Titus does not need to be circumcised, as the law of Moses would have required.

Some in Jerusalem do not agree, however. Paul calls them “false brothers” who want to steal away the Gentiles’ freedom in Christ. They want to make all Christians slaves to the law. The other apostles, though, recognize that Paul is an apostle in his own right and has been sent by Christ to preach to the Gentiles. Peter, James, and John express their official approval with what’s referred to here as “the right hand of fellowship.” This might have been some kind of overt, formal means of declaring their approval of Paul, so others would accept him (Galatians 2:3–10).

Later, though, when Peter comes to where Paul lives in Antioch, things don’t go nearly so well. Peter has said he believes that Gentiles who trust in Christ are fully accepted in God’s sight. So, while the traditional approach to Jewish law and customs would never allow a Jew to eat with a Gentile, Peter does so while in Antioch—for a while. However, when some followers of Jesus’ brother James show up, men who still disapprove of Jewish Christians eating with Gentile Christians, Peter gets scared. This looks bad, he thinks. So he leaves the table. Because of his influence, all of the other Jewish Christians leave the table, too. Even Barnabas, Paul’s partner in ministry, can’t take the pressure.

Paul stands up and opposes Peter right to his face because of Peter’s hypocrisy. If you now live as a Gentile—by eating with Gentiles—Paul asks, how can you force the Gentiles to follow all the Jewish rules and customs? This challenge, issued to a fellow apostle over such a sensitive issue, becomes the theme of Paul’s message for the rest of the letter. There is no reason for a Christian to behave as if good deeds, traditions, or rituals are part of our salvation (Galatians 2:11–14).

Paul then begins to make his grand case that nobody can be justified—made righteous before God—by following the works of the law. Peter and Paul, though born Jewish, have both now been justified before God by faith in Christ. In fact, that’s the only way anyone can be justified.

Finally, Paul declares he has “died to the law” and has come alive to God. How? By believing in Christ, he was crucified with Christ in a spiritual sense. His sinful self was executed by faith in Christ and then Christ came to take its place in Paul. Now, Paul insists, he lives by faith in Christ (Galatians 2:15–21).

Why did Christ give himself for Paul, and for us? Paul implies his motive is simple: Love (Galatians 2:19).

Chapter Context
In Galatians 1, Paul defended himself in order to defend the trustworthiness of his message. He made the case that he was a legitimate apostle. He shows in Galatians 2 that the other apostles stand with him in teaching the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. He describes a moment in which he rebuked Peter for hypocrisy and then makes the case that only faith in Christ can bring justification for any person in the eyes of God. The works of the law can never make anyone righteous, or Christ would not have had to die.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.

Paul is continuing to make his case to the Galatian believers that the Judaizers are wrong. This group, who insisted that Gentile converts needed to obey Old Testament law in order to be saved, were attempting to discredit Paul’s authority. In the previous chapter, Paul’s main point was that he had, in fact, been made a full apostle by Jesus Christ Himself without the influence of the other apostles. Now Paul will explain that, after some time passed, the other apostles agreed with him that the Gentiles—like all people—are saved through faith alone and not through following the law of Moses.

Paul begins by recalling a trip he made to Jerusalem with Barnabas, a Jewish Christian, and Titus, a Greek (Gentile) Christian. This trip seems to fit best with a trip described in Acts 11:27–30. At that time, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem with money that was gathered up to meet the needs of the people in Judea who were suffering through a famine.

This trip likely happed fourteen years after Paul’s conversion and eleven years after he went back to Jerusalem to meet with Peter for the first time.

Context Summary
Galatians 2:1–10 describes an important meeting in Jerusalem between Paul and the other apostles. Paul is pleased to learn they preach the same gospel of God’s grace through faith in Christ that he does. They agree that Gentiles should not be made to follow the law, and they endorse Paul’s God-given calling to preach to the Gentiles. Peter, James, and John offer to him and Barnabas, his partner in ministry, the right hand of fellowship, a symbol of their support, approval, and unity with them.

Verse 2. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

Paul is recalling a trip to Jerusalem which may have occurred around AD 45. He traveled there from Antioch in Syria with Barnabas, a Jewish Christian, and Titus, a Gentile Christian. He mentions that he went to Jerusalem because of a revelation. This could refer to the revelation given to a prophet named Agabus that there would be a great famine all over the world (Acts 11:27–28). Paul and Barnabas were sent to bring famine relief to the Christians in and around Judea.

While in Jerusalem, Paul decided to approach the leaders of the church there in private. He explained to them the gospel of Jesus that he had been preaching to Gentiles—to non-Jewish people. This was the very gospel Paul had preached to the Galatians, indicating that Christ’s death on the cross was entirely sufficient to forgive our sins. We are forgiven by trusting in God’s grace to us through Jesus’ substitution in our place. In other words, the Gentiles need not follow the law of Moses in order to be saved.

Paul, it seems, wanted to make sure he was not running the race in vain. For Paul, “running the race” was a metaphor about doing his best to fulfill the mission God had given him. It’s not that Paul doubted his message to the Gentiles. It appears that he was concerned about being divided from the other 12 apostles if his message about Christ was not the same as theirs. In other words, would Christ’s disciples also be Judaizers, leaving Paul on his own preaching the true gospel of Jesus?

Verse 3. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.

Paul, on a trip to Jerusalem to deliver famine relief, has a private meeting with some of the influential leaders of the Christian church, which includes other apostles. He wants to talk to them about the gospel of Jesus he has been preaching to the Gentiles, including the Galatians. He appears interested in hearing from them that the gospel he has received from Christ fits with the gospel as they understand it.

In short, Paul has been preaching that salvation comes through God’s grace alone and by faith in Christ alone. Specifically, he has said in this letter that Jesus gave Himself on the cross for our sins (Galatians 1:4). He stood in our place as the substitute and received the full payment for our sin. By faith in Him, Paul will go on to say, our sins are fully forgiven, eliminating the need to follow the law of Moses.

Would these influential apostles, trained by Jesus, disagree with Paul? They are Jewish, but would they be like the Judaizers, demanding that Gentiles essentially convert to Judaism before being accepted as Christians? To Paul’s great relief, the apostles themselves did not agree with the Judaizers. Instead, they perceived the gospel in exactly the same way as Paul: as one of faith, not works, or of rituals and traditions.

As evidence of their support, Paul points to his friend and follower Titus. Titus was Greek, and a Christian. The law of Moses would have required that Titus be circumcised to be included with the Jewish people of God (Exodus 12:48). The other apostles did not require that Titus be circumcised, however, to belong to the church of God as a Christian.

Verse 4. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in — who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery —

When the church was born, most of the new believers in Jesus were Jewish people who had grown up following the law of Moses. Males among this group would have been circumcised at a young age; this distinctive practice is often used as a shorthand for the entire law of Moses. As faithful Jews, these early Christians would have been raised to avoid associating with non-Jewish people—Gentiles—in specific situations.

After these people believed in Jesus, many of them continued to follow at least some of the practices of the Law. But what if you told the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus to someone who had never been Jewish, had never followed the Law? What did they have to “do” to be included in this new thing called Christianity?

Paul preached what Jesus gave to him to say: these non-Jewish believers didn’t have to “do” anything differently to be saved and included. That, in fact, is a core message of the gospel, that Jesus already did it all on the cross. So, in the case of Gentile believers, they didn’t need to be circumcised as if they were joining Judaism under the law of Moses (Exodus 12:48). Paul has reported that the most influential Christian leaders in Jerusalem, all Jewish and mostly apostles, agreed with him. They did not require, for instance, that Paul’s Greek friend Titus be circumcised to be saved (Galatians 2:3).

But some others in Jerusalem did think Titus should be circumcised. Paul called these men “false brothers.” Their position is stated clearly in Acts 15:1: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul said emphatically: That is not the gospel of Jesus. That is false. This is a crucial aspect of how the New Testament explains salvation; Scripture is explicitly clear that any attempt to add works, rituals, or any other requirements to salvation by grace through faith is false and worthy of condemnation (Galatians 1:8–9).

Paul even accuses those teaching a requirement of works in the Christian church of being spies, practicing espionage for the purpose of taking away the freedom Christ gives and replacing it with a slavery to the Law.

Verse 5. to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Paul understood that he was on the front lines of a battle for the truth of what it really means to be saved. What does it mean to be a Christian and included in the family of God? What do you have to “do” to make it in?

Paul, who received the truth from Christ Himself, insisted that nothing was required of a person to be saved, because Jesus had already paid the full price for our salvation when he died for our sins on the cross. A group in the church known as the Judaizers could not accept this. They had accepted the idea of Christianity, but they wanted to blend it with the law of Moses. According to them, you must follow Christ, but you must also be circumcised and follow the Law to be saved.

Paul called these men “false brothers” and spies with the aim of stealing away the freedom Christ had purchased with His death. They weren’t Christians, because they did not trust Christ’s death to be enough to pay for their sins. Paul now says that he refused to budge an inch on this all-important point at a meeting in Jerusalem with the most influential leaders of the Christian movement. He saw it as his job to preserve the truth of the gospel.

This is a point on which the Bible is excruciatingly clear: adding even the slightest hint of “works” to the gospel, requiring any kind of ritual or act on our part, is to replace the truth with a lie.

Verse 6. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) — those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.

Paul has described a meeting with the influential leaders of the Christian movement in Jerusalem. At that time, Paul asked for a private meeting, with the other apostles, to describe what he had been preaching to non-Jewish people. He wanted to hear from these leaders that they were preaching the gospel of God’s grace through faith in Christ, too.

His friend Titus, who was with him and not Jewish, became a test case. Would they insist that Titus be circumcised, following the law of Moses for the Jewish people, in order to be acceptable to God and included in the church? Or was Titus’ faith in Jesus’ death on the cross for Titus’ sins enough for Him to welcome Titus into the family of God? The other apostles—the leaders of the Christian movement in Jerusalem—”added nothing” to Paul’s message. In other words, they agreed with him completely. They stood with him on the all-important fact that salvation for everyone who trusts in Christ comes only by God’s grace and not by following the Law.

Though the leaders and apostles themselves agreed with Paul’s message of salvation by God’s grace alone, there was a group in the movement who disagreed. This sect was referred to as the “Judaizers,” and they claimed that Titus had to be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1). Paul called these men “false brothers.” This is not a term to be taken lightly; Paul is saying that, by the definition of the gospel, they were not even Christians.

This is a detail on which Scripture is exceedingly distinct: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, without even the slightest hint of rituals, works, or other requirements. Attempting to add any other conditions to salvation—such as circumcision or baptism—is to preach a false gospel.

Verse 7. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised

The true leaders of the Christian movement, the church, agreed with Paul completely. All of the apostles, those who walked with Jesus during his time on earth and Paul, who was added after the resurrection, stood together in unity. They all preached the gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone and not by human works or following the Law. They were unanimous in their view that no act, ritual, tradition, or other kind of “work” was required in order for a person to be saved.

These other apostles gave their approval to Paul’s message and accepted that Christ had commissioned Paul specifically to take the gospel to non-Jewish people around the world. Peter, in a similar way, had been sent by Jesus to preach the gospel to “the circumcised,” the Jewish people who had previously followed the law of Moses.

The important point was that though Paul and Peter preached to different groups of people, they preached exactly the same message: All must come to salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ.

Verse 8. (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),

Paul is writing to Christians in the region of Galatia who happily believed in Jesus and became Christians when he came to them. Later, though, a group called the Judaizers came and insisted that Paul was wrong. This sect said these Gentiles must be circumcised and follow the law of Moses to be truly saved. Paul’s stance on this view is clear: these Judaizers are not even Christians themselves, and that the other apostles agree with him. When a person tries to add any other requirement to salvation, they are preaching something false.

Peter and the others have recognized that he, Paul, has been sent by Christ to preach the true gospel message to Gentiles, just as Peter’s mission is to take the good news of Jesus to Jewish people, referred to as “the circumcised”.

Now Paul points to something essential: The same Jesus is working through Paul in his ministry and working through Peter in his ministry. The only difference is the audience. It’s the same Jesus, same message, and same way to be saved—through the grace of God and not human effort.

Verse 9. and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

The Christians of Galatia are being influenced by a group known as the Judaizers. These false teachers claim that Gentiles need to be circumcised and to follow Old Testament law in order to be saved. These same men are claiming that Paul’s authority is suspect. In response, Paul has pointed out how he obtained his understanding of the gospel directly from Christ, and that he was in total agreement with the other apostles.

Paul now makes his strongest point to the Galatian believers: his message of salvation through God’s grace without following the Law has been formally approved by the other apostles. Paul met with the other apostles in Jerusalem. The three most influential leaders, James, Peter (Cephas), and John, saw the grace given to Paul by God to carry out his ministry (Galatians 1:15). In other words, they agreed with Paul’s testimony that Christ had been revealed to him and had called him as an apostle. So those three gave to Paul and Barnabas, his partner in ministry, their seal of approval called “the right hand of fellowship.” We might assume this is a kind of official hand shake, but what “the right hand of fellowship” represents in the New Testament is acceptance and inclusion in the group.

Paul wanted the Galatian Christians to fully understand that he was not some rogue teacher running around the world teaching a maverick version of the gospel. He preached the same message Jesus’ closest disciples did. They saw the grace of God in him, and they approved of his ministry. Anyone who would reject the gospel as Paul preached it would also be rejecting the teaching of those most famously connected to Jesus at the time. And, as Paul clarified earlier, this means all who attempt to add additional requirements to salvation, beyond faith in Christ, are false teachers, “false brothers,” (Galatians 2:4) and subject to condemnation (Galatians 1:8–9).

Verse 10. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul has reported to the Galatians that the other apostles, Jesus’ own disciples during His time on earth, had given their full approval both to his own role as an apostle and the message he preached of salvation through God’s grace and not through following the Law. This was their opportunity to correct Paul’s preaching, to rebuke his message, or to declare where he was wrong. Their actions prove that they did not see error in Paul’s gospel—they recognized it as the truth. So, they declared their fellowship with Paul and made it clear that they approved of his ministry.

Now Paul adds that Peter, James, and John did ask him to do one extra thing in his ministry to the Gentiles. They asked him to remember the poor. Paul eagerly agreed. In fact, he had likely come to Jerusalem from Antioch in Syria to bring famine relief from people in that part of the world (Acts 11:29–30). Paul’s entire ministry was marked by urging Christians to give support and care to those who were struggling (1 Corinthians 16:1–3).

Verse 11. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

This verse brings a sudden shift in Paul’s reported relationship with the other apostles, specifically Peter. This example becomes the springboard Paul uses to emphasize his message that salvation comes by faith, not by works. In order to defend himself against the charges from his accusers that he was not a full apostle, but merely a student of the other apostles—like Peter—Paul has outlined his relationship with them.

First, God was the one who revealed Jesus to Paul. He was not converted by the preaching of any other teacher. Second, after Paul’s conversion, he was not trained by the apostles. He went off by himself and learned about Christ from Christ. He did meet with Peter and Jesus’ brother James briefly, after already developing his understanding of the gospel, and then ministered on his own in Syria and Cilicia. Paul’s point to his accusers was that he was a full apostle, by God’s own calling and grace, and not because of any close association with the apostles in and around Jerusalem.

In the previous verses, Paul also showed he was preaching the same gospel truth as the other apostles. In fact, Peter, James, and John had given to him and Barnabas their full approval.

Now Paul will show that he remained independent of Peter, referred to here as Cephas, the original Aramaic version of the name given to him by Jesus. Paul was not under Peter’s authority. In fact, when Peter came to Antioch in Syria, where Paul lived, Paul opposed him to his face over a serious issue, about which Paul knew Peter was dead wrong. Paul exercised his own God-given authority as apostle with Peter. How could he have done that if he was not a full apostle himself?

Context Summary
Galatians 2:11–14 describes a difficult moment, when Paul was forced to confront another apostle for hypocritical behavior. Though Peter has declared his agreement that salvation is by faith in Christ and not the law, he seems hesitant to live out that truth if disapproving people are watching him. Peter’s choice to step away from eating with Gentiles leads all the Jewish people in the room to do the same. For the sake of the true gospel, Paul opposes Peter to his face, calling out his hypocrisy. Peter had been ”living like a Gentile,” by eating with them. How could he force any Gentile, then, to live under the law?

Verse 12. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

Paul is explaining to the Galatian Christians why his authority is legitimate. This is meant to blunt the criticisms of a particular sect, the Judaizers, who claim that following the law of Moses is necessary for salvation. This is a false teaching that Paul wants the Galatians to avoid. As part of this, Paul relates how he came to be approved by the other apostles. Then, he transitions into a story about how he corrected one of those very apostles on a related issue.

According to Paul, Peter had come to Antioch in Syria to visit the church there. Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face, right in front of a group of people gathered for a meal together?

For the Jewish people, who you ate with had always been a big deal. While living under the law of Moses, they never ate with Gentiles. That was forbidden. They even avoided eating with other Jewish people who were thought to be leading sinful lifestyles. That’s why Jesus generated so much controversy when He ate with “tax collectors and sinners.”

Paul, Peter, and the other apostles had come to an agreement that Gentiles did not need to live as Jews in order to be saved. They didn’t need to be circumcised or follow the law of Moses. All were saved by grace. Many Jewish Christians, however, continued to follow the Law and Jewish practices they had grown up under.

So though the Jewish Christian leaders agreed that Gentiles could be saved, was it okay to sit at the same table and eat with them now? Because of God’s grace, it was absolutely okay. They were brothers and sisters in Christ, after all. Still, it just felt wrong to many Jewish traditionalists.

Paul was Jewish and sat and ate with non-Jewish Christians all of the time. He was likely very glad to see Peter doing the same thing when he came to Antioch. But then a group of Jewish men connected to Jesus’ brother James showed up. Paul calls them “the circumcision party.” They absolutely did not approve of eating with Christian Gentiles. Peter knew this and left the table with the Gentiles in order to look good to this group of men. His choice would lead others to do the same.

For this, Paul will call Peter out as a hypocrite.

Verse 13. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Paul continues to relate a story about confronting Peter, as a way of emphasizing both his legitimate authority and the importance of faith—not works—in salvation.

Peter was in Antioch, visiting the Christians there. Antioch wasn’t like Jerusalem. It was a big town with far fewer Jewish people. Peter had apparently gone along with the local customs, and sat down to eat at a table with non-Jewish people. Based on his background, that was no small thing. Peter had grown up in a Jewish culture being faithful to follow the Law and Jewish customs. He had learned early on that is what made him a good person. Jesus had changed all of that. Peter agreed that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it was not necessary for Gentiles to live as Jews under the Law in order to be saved.

In fact, it was not necessary for Jews to live under the Law, either, but it would be hard for the faithful Jews to stop doing so. For one thing, it had always been forbidden to eat at a table with Gentiles. When a group of men who believed it was still wrong walked in while Peter was eating, he jumped up to move away from the Gentiles. Peter was clearly afraid of what those men would think of him, that they would judge him. Peter was also a leader, though, so his choice led all of the other Jewish people at his table—including even Barnabas, Paul’s partner—to leave the table, as well.

It was an ugly moment, and Paul calls it what is was: hypocrisy. Peter said he believed that the Gentiles were fully accepted by God’s grace through faith in Christ, but he didn’t want to get caught acting like that was true. He showed that, in that moment, he cared more about what people thought of him than he did about pleasing God.

Verse 14. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Paul is describing an incident between himself and Peter, which supports his claims to apostolic authority. Paul knew what Peter believed, that Gentiles were fully accepted by God’s grace through faith in Christ, that their sins were covered by Jesus’ death on the cross. In fact, Peter believed that’s how Jewish people were saved, as well. But Peter got scared when some men who still thought it was wrong to eat with Gentiles walked in and found him eating at a table with Gentiles. Peter got up and left the table, maybe not expecting all of the other Jewish people at the table to get up and follow his hypocritical example.

Paul had seen enough. He confronted Peter right out in the open in front of everyone gathered together to eat. Paul didn’t confront Peter out of a sense of outrage for his Gentile friends. He confronted Peter openly for the sake of the truth of the gospel. Peter’s actions were teaching everyone present that Christians came in two flavors: Jewish and Gentile. That was not the gospel. Everyone is saved by trusting in God’s grace to forgive sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. Nobody is saved by following the Law.

Paul used a question to challenge Peter: You’re a Jew, and you were living like a Gentile before these guys came in. How can you now force Gentiles to live according to Jewish Law and traditions in order to be seen as saved and equal with Jewish Christians before God?

Peter’s response is not recorded, but it is not needed. God Himself had commanded Peter to overcome his attachment to the Law and the customs of Judaism in order to accept and receive the Gentiles (Acts 10). Often, our real-world actions lag behind our bedrock beliefs. We should be glad to have someone like Paul rebuke us to get us back on the right track.

Verse 15. We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;

It is unclear from the text whether the words here are a continuation of Paul’s rebuke of Peter, as given in the previous verse, or whether this is simply Paul expounding the point of his story. In either case, Paul begins here to make the major point of his letter to the Galatians: Every person is justified—”made just or acceptable”—before God by faith and not by works or the Law.

Paul begins by saying that he and Peter are both Jewish by birth. They seemingly had the advantage of being born into the nation of the chosen people of God, blessed by God with the Law and the sacrificial system. It offered a way to be right with God as a people. They also had the advantage of not being born as “Gentile sinners,” born outside of God’s chosen people with limited opportunities to be saved and welcomed by Him.

As Paul will beautifully explain in the following verses, Jesus changed everything. More accurately, He brought everything into focus. The gospel truth Paul had been preaching and that Peter himself agreed with was that nobody can be saved by following the works of the Law. We are only justified by faith in Christ.

Context Summary
Galatians 2:15–21 contains Paul’s grand statements about the difference between faith in Christ and following the law. Nobody can be justified in God’s eyes by the works of the law, but only by faith in Christ. To believe in Christ is to be crucified with Him and to have Him replace your sinful self in you. Paul now lives by faith in the Son of God. More, Jesus gave himself for Paul’s sin because He loved him. To say that a person can be made righteous by the law is to say that Jesus died for nothing.

Verse 16. yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:16 is one of the key verses of this book and of all the New Testament. In short, Christianity does not exist without this pivotal truth about “justification.”

Many of us tune out when we hear words like “justification.” The word sounds theological and “churchy.” But we can’t be right with God without it, so it matters that we make an effort to understand it. Justified, in Christian theology, simply means “declared righteous.” In order to be saved, to be in relationship with a holy God, he must declare us righteous in His eyes. The problem, of course, is that we aren’t actually righteous. We are sinful people. So how in the world can God declare us to be righteous? That’s the question this verse begins to answer.

Paul immediately eliminates one path to being justified or declared righteous by God. The works of the Law won’t work. Period. Nobody can be justified that way. The only way for anyone to be justified before God is faith, belief in Jesus Christ. Earlier in this letter, Paul went so far as to point out that those who claim additional requirements are needed for salvation are not, themselves, saved believers—they are “false brothers” (Galatians 2:4). There is no “other gospel,” and whatever is not true is false (Galatians 1:8–9).

Paul began his letter by describing Jesus as the one who gave Himself for our sins. In other words, He died to fully pay the penalty for all of the sins that make us unrighteous, unjustified before God. Now the only way to be justified is to believe in the Jesus who did that for us. Paul declares that though he, like Peter, was Jewish by birth, all people are justified by faith in Christ, not heritage or traditions.

Verse 17. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!

In one of the great verses in the Bible, Paul has declared outright that nobody can be justified—”declared righteous” before God—by the works of the law of Moses (Galatians 2:16). The only way anyone can ever be justified and made acceptable to God is by faith in the Christ who died to pay the penalty for our sins. Adding any other requirement to this gospel is false (Galatians 2:4) and worthy of condemnation (Galatians 1:8–9).

Now Paul begins to answer an objection from some of the critics of the gospel of Jesus: If God declares people righteous for free by faith in Christ, won’t everyone just go on sinning? What motivation would anyone have to do what is right? Paul’s accusers likely pointed to exactly what happened with Peter. When someone feels they are justified by faith in Christ, they eat unclean food with Gentiles! From the Judaizers’ perspective, this was the definition of a sinful lifestyle.

Doesn’t the idea of justification by faith in Christ turn Jesus into a servant of our sin? Paul answers harshly: Certainly not! May it never be! Absolutely not! He continues on to explain this position in the following verse.

Verse 18. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

Paul has proclaimed that nobody can be justified before God by the works of the Law. Everybody must be justified by faith in Christ or they will not be justified—”made righteous and acceptable” in the eyes of God—at all. Adding any component of works, or some requirement of rituals or deeds, destroys the truth of that good news (Galatians 1:8–9; 2:16). Paul then followed that statement with an objection raised by the critics of this gospel of God’s grace. If those who claim to be justified before God through faith in Christ continue to sin, doesn’t that make Christ a servant of sin? Paul’s response was “Certainly not!”

Christ does not promote sin, and God’s forgiveness does not condone sin. To suggest otherwise is a colossal mistake (Romans 6:1; 6:15; Galatians 3:21). Now Paul shows there is much greater danger of increased sinfulness by building a new law than by living freely in God’s grace. He says that if he rebuilds (the law) after tearing down (the law), he makes himself to be an even greater sinner. It’s law that reveals and promotes our sinfulness, Paul will say, not the free grace of God through faith in Christ.

Verse 19. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

Paul is making the case that nobody can be justified before God by following the works of the law. One can only be justified before God by faith in Christ (Galatians 1:8–9; 2:16).

In the middle of that argument, this is a complicated verse to fully understand. What Paul seems to be saying is that the penalty for not keeping the law perfectly was death. Paul, as a former Pharisee who loved the law of Moses, understood that he had not kept it perfectly. The law revealed just how sinful Paul was and condemned him to death. In comparison to a perfect, holy God, nothing less than perfection is owed. If we sin, at all, in any way, then we’re unworthy to be in His presence. We cannot be “justified” to a perfectly holy God, because we are not holy!

Christ, though, paid the penalty Paul owed for failing to keep the law. This is what allows God to “declare” us justified, though we ourselves have sinned. Jesus died in Paul’s place. Once dead, someone is dead to everything, including the law. So Paul, through Christ, died to the law. That freed him to truly “live to God.” As he will say in the following verse, he died with Christ and now lives by faith in Christ.

Verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This much-loved verse is quoted, printed, and repeated often, most especially the first half of this statement. This is also Paul’s grandest declaration yet about what exactly happens when someone is saved or justified by placing their faith in Christ. In a very real sense, Paul’s argument is that we become so closely attached to Him that we die with Him and He begins to live in us. Paul has been emphasizing that faith, and faith alone, is what saves us—adding any requirement of good deeds or rituals is contrary to the gospel (Galatians 1:8–9; 2:16).

Christ was crucified for our sin. By faith, we trust that His death paid for our own personal sin. In that way, we are crucified with Him, our sin with him on the cross. That sinful “us” dies, replaced by the resurrected Christ “in us.” We continue to live in the flesh, of course, but our lives are now directed not by our sinful selves but by our faith in Christ. Paul expands on this great truth powerfully in Romans 6:1–6.

For the first time, Paul mentions Jesus’ motive for giving Himself for us: love. Christ died for us because He loves us. Unlike the unyielding system of the law, Christ is a person motivated by His love and concern for us.

Verse 21. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Paul has been arguing, strongly, that it is totally illegitimate to add requirements such as good deeds or rituals to the gospel of salvation. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and any inclusion of works conflicts with that good news (Galatians 1:8–9; 2:16). In the prior verse, Paul dramatically explained why this does not offer us a license to sin: those who are saved by grace through faith have “died” to sin, and will seek to obey God, even if they sometimes slip.

Here, Paul delivers his final argument in this line of thinking about being justified or declared righteous by God. He has already shown that we can only be condemned by the law. If somehow he were wrong, though, and it was possible to be made righteous before God by the works of the law, why did Jesus die? What would be the point? We could all stay on the path of the law and be saved. But the law cannot save, so Paul will not nullify—he will not ignore, or make worthless—God’s grace. Paul will instead die to the law. He will place all of his faith in Christ’s righteousness and Christ’s death on the cross. That sacrifice in his place, not Paul’s own works, will be his only means of being counted as righteous before God.

End of Chapter 2.

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